The turkey ammo market has been flipped on its head this 12 months because the value of Tungsten Tremendous Shot skyrocketed. Amid the turmoil, ammo producers are working to offer the very best turkey hundreds they will at costs that prospects can abdomen. Some are loading a less-dense tungsten pellet as a means of avoiding the harshest tariffs. Others are stacking tungsten pellets with lead.
However nonetheless, all of those hundreds are far more costly than good previous lead ammo. So which of those turkey hundreds are prime performers? And the way a lot additional efficiency do they provide in comparison with the highest lead turkey ammo?
Greatest Turkey Hundreds
Extra Hundreds We Examined
With a purpose to reply these questions, the OL staff carried out an in-depth turkey load take a look at, capturing prime hundreds via two weapons (with completely different choke constrictions), to measure sample density and pellet penetration on ballistic gel. We examined tungsten hundreds at 60 yards and lead hundreds at 40 yards. To guage sample density we counted the variety of pellet strikes inside a 10-inch circle drawn over the core of the sample. We had been in search of at the very least 100 pellet strikes within the zone (as is the long-held customary) for constant lethality. To leap to our full testing protocol, click on right here.
Additionally, take a look at my evaluations of the very best 20 gauge turkey hundreds and finest .410 turkey hundreds.
| Load | Av. 60 Yd Sample, Rem (.660) | Av. 60 Yd Sample, Moss (.695) | Av. 60 Yd Sample, Mixed | Shot Measurement | Payload | Pellet Materials |
| Apex Greenleaf | 199 | 137 | 168 | 9 & 10 | 2 1/4 oz | TSS (18 g/cc) |
| Winchester Lengthy Beard Tungsten | 156 | 146 | 151 | 9 | 2 1/4 oz | Tung (17 g/cc) |
| Winchester Lengthy Beard XR | 147 (40 yds) | 121 (40 yds) | 134 (40 yds) | 6 | 1 3/4 oz | Lead (11 g/cc) |
| Apex GT-3 | 145 | 91 | 118 | 9 | 2 1/4 oz | TSS (18 g/cc) |
| Boss Tom | 131 | 103 | 117 | 9 | 2 1/2 oz | TSS (18 g/cc) |
| Hevi Shot | 121 | 100 | 110 | 9 | 2 oz | TSS (18 g/cc) |
| Federal Customized Store | 105 | 104 | 104 | 9 | 2 1/2 oz | TSS (18 g/cc) |
| Migra Hybrid | 90 (40 yds) | No Information | No Information | 9 & 5 | 2 oz | Lead & Tung (17 g/cc) |
| Federal Grand Slam | 54 (40 yds) | 62 (40 yds) | 58 (40 yds) | 6 | 1 3/4 oz | Lead (11 g/cc) |
Editor’s Selection, Greatest TSS Load: Apex Greenleaf
Professionals
- Extremely dense patterns
- Surprisingly good penetration at 60 yards
- Accessible at main retailers
Key Options
-
Pellet Materials: TSS -
Shot dimension: No. 9 and No. 10 -
Payload: 2 ¼ ounce -
Common 10-inch sample: 168 at 60 yards -
Worth: $100 per field of 5
In concept, Apex’s Greenleaf ought to produce higher patterns than every other load on this roster. As a result of it combines 1 ½ ounces of No. 10 shot and ¾ ounces of No. 9 shot there are an unimaginable quantity of pellets packed into this shell — 1096 to be precise.
The consequence was shockingly dense patterns even at 60 yards. By means of the tighter choked Remington, we averaged 199 pellet strikes within the zone. For reference, that’s significantly better than most lead hundreds will produce at 40 yards.
However our essential query was: Do these tiny No. 10 pellets penetrate sufficient at distance to be efficient? Once we shot this load on ballistic gel, we had been pleasantly shocked to see that these little pellets had been certainly killers. The No. 10 pellets penetrated about 1.87 inches, whereas the No. 9 pellets drove in about 3 inches. For reference, No. 6 lead pellets penetrated 1.5 inches at this distance.
The mix of insane sample density with ample penetration was sufficient to earn Apex Greenleaf our hands-down Editor’s Selection award.
Editor’s Selection, Greatest Lead Load: Winchester Lengthy Beard XR
Professionals
- Wonderful 40-yard patterns
- Reasonably priced
- Broadly out there
Cons
- Restricted ranged in comparison with TSS
Key Options
-
Pellet Materials: Lead -
Shot dimension: No. 6 -
Payload: 1 3/4 ounce -
Common 10-inch sample: 134 at 40 yards -
Worth: $26 per field of 10
I used to be among the many first group of writers to check Winchester Lengthy Beard XR again when it was launched greater than a decade in the past. At this time, it’s nonetheless the very best lead turkey load that I’ve ever shot. The key is Winchester’s “Shot-Lok” expertise, which is a strong resin that buffers its pellets. The result’s heavy, even patterns down vary. By means of the tighter choke of the Remington 870, we averaged 147 pellet strikes inside a 10-inch circle at 40 yards.
With that Remington shotgun, I’d really feel snug capturing Lengthy Beard XR to about 45 yards. A lot past that, the sample would degrade to the purpose the place we’d now not have 100 pellet strikes within the zone (which is our threshold for constant lethality). So regardless that Winchester guarantees “twice the variety of pellets in a 10-inch circle out to 60 yards,” I don’t contemplate this a 60-yard load, at the very least via our take a look at weapons.
Gel testing revealed that the No. 6 lead pellets penetrated 2.5 inches at 40 yards and slightly below 1.5 inches at 60 yards (which is nearing the brink of lethality). However once more, within the weapons we examined, there weren’t sufficient pellet strikes within the core of the sample at 60 yards for dependable, clear kills.
The takeaway right here is that with the appropriate choke and a few diligent patterning work, you may shoot Winchester Lengthy Beard XR to 45 or perhaps 50 yards successfully. Contemplating it’s exponentially cheaper than any TSS load, this can be a good selection for many turkey hunters.
Greatest Worth TSS: Federal Customized Store
Professionals
- Extra reasonably priced than different TSS choices
- Offered in field of 10
- Heavy payload
Key Options
-
Pellet Materials: TSS -
Shot dimension: No. 9 -
Payload: 2 1/2 ounce -
Common 10-inch sample: 104 at 60 yards -
Worth: $156 per field of 10
I understand it’s a bit absurd to think about $15 per shell a price, however welcome to the trendy TSS market. By means of its on-line Customized Store, Federal hundreds a wide range of TSS choices for a bunch of various gauges. For turkeys they provide 2 ½ ounce, 12 gauge choices in each No. 9s and No. 7s. We had good success with the No. 9s placing a median of 104 pellets within the zone with each weapons. The No. 7s penetrated like loopy (3 inches at 60 yards) however as a result of there are fewer pellets within the payload we didn’t get sufficiently dense patterns at lengthy distance.
Federal sells these Customized Store hundreds in a field of 10, so that you get a bit of extra bang in your buck. The one tough half is availability.
Greatest Tungsten Patterns: Winchester Lengthy Beard Tungsten
Professionals
- Superior patterns at 60 yards
Cons
- Much less dense pellet materials
- Much less penetration at 60 yards
Key Options
-
Pellet Materials: Tungsten (17 g/cc) -
Shot dimension: No. 9 -
Payload: 2 1/4 ounce -
Common 10-inch sample: 151 at 60 yards -
Worth: $93 per field of 5
This spring Winchester is providing a Lengthy Beard Tungsten choice (to not be confused with Lengthy Beard TSS). This load makes use of a barely much less dense pellet materials of 17 g/cc than customary TSS, which has a density of 18 g/cc.
In our vary testing, Winchester’s No. 9 load delivered excellent patterns, particularly out of the Remington 870, averaging 156 pellet strikes within the zone at 60 yards. This was the second finest efficiency we noticed, behind the Greenleaf TSS.
Nevertheless in penetration testing we had been a bit dismayed to see these pellets solely drive about 1.5 inches into ballistic gel at 60 yards. That is considerably lower than the straight TSS No. 9 pellets, which penetrated 2.75 inches at this distance. Actually, Winchester Tungsten was on par with the lead No. 6 pellets when it comes to penetration. Nevertheless, Winchester did say that of their testing they recorded 2.44 inches of penetration into the identical gel block materials at 60 yards.
The takeaway, at the very least from our testing, is that Lengthy Beard Tungsten can ship excellent patterns and sufficient penetration to be reliably deadly at 60 yards, however most likely not past.
Extra Turkey Hundreds We Examined
Apex GT-3
This can be a customary No. 9 TSS load that turned in some glorious patterns at 60 yards. This 2 ¼-ounce load brings 814 pellets to the celebration. By means of the Remington 870 it averaged 145 pellet strikes within the zone (so a .660 diameter might be a superb place to start out). One further good thing about Apex is that they supply their TSS from American firms, reasonably than China.
Boss Tom TSS
Boss gives the finest 20-gauge turkey load I’ve ever shot, and their 12-gauge providing is strong too. Apparently, this can be a 2 ¾-inch shotshell that brings a hefty 2 ½-ounce payload. That interprets to 905 No. 9 pellets within the payload. Boss additionally sources its TSS from American firms.
Hevi-18 TSS Turkey
Hevi Shot has a wide range of denser-than-lead choices, however Hevi-18 is their prime TSS load. In comparison with the opposite TSS choices we reviewed, this shotshell has a lighter payload of two ounces, but it surely nonetheless put loads of pellets on course with 121 within the zone out of the Remington shotgun.
Migra Hybrid
Migra Hybrid is an intriguing load that mixes No. 5 lead pellets with No. 9 tungsten pellets (which have a density of 17 g/cc, like Winchester’s). The load accommodates 217 lead pellets and 200 No. 9 tungsten pellets. The result’s an choice that accommodates tungsten however is available in at a fraction of the value of TSS. A field of Migra Hybrid is promoting for $40 per field of 5; that’s lower than half the price of TSS ammo. Sadly, we didn’t get nice patterning outcomes out of those Hybrid hundreds. At 40 yards we noticed about 90 pellet strikes in a 10-inch circle with the Remington 870 (the Mossberg was a lot worse). Migra did say that it recorded 200-plus pellet strikes utilizing a Mossberg 935 and .675 choke.
So should you’re going to shoot these hundreds you’ll probably must do some experimenting with choke constrictions for higher patterns than we had been capable of produce in our take a look at.
Federal Grand Slam
Grand Slam makes use of copper-plated lead shot and Federal’s Flite Management wad. We noticed okay patterns out of the Mossberg with this load at 40 yards, however we’d should do extra testing with completely different choke constrictions to be totally assured with it at this vary.
How We Examined the Greatest Turkey Hundreds
We used two 12 gauge take a look at weapons for this assessment:
For every load we shot three patterns per gun after which averaged them to get a median sample density. We measured patterns by drawing a 10-inch circle across the core of the sample after which we counted the pellet strikes. Any common sample density of 100 pellet strikes or extra throughout the 10-inch circle was deemed deadly (as that is the normal customary).
We shot the TSS hundreds at 60 yards and the lead hundreds at 40 yards. The thought right here is that hunters who go for TSS wish to shoot turkeys past the ranges that lead hundreds usually permit. We then shot the highest performing hundreds into ballistic gel to guage their penetration. It’s frequent data that lead No. 6s pellets kill turkeys successfully at 40 yards, so we used this penetration depth (2.5 inches) for a management determine.
Hundreds that delivered the very best sample density, plus ample penetration, got prime honors.
We shot all patterns from a bench utilizing Caldwell’s Lead Sled Max, which saved us from the brutal recoil of those heavy payloads. We additionally used LPVO scopes on the weapons for exact aiming.
Learn Subsequent: The Greatest Turkey Weapons of All Time
Turkey Searching Ethics
Turkey searching at its easiest is a close-range sport. The purpose, in any case, is to name a tom in shut and kill him cleanly. The knowledgeable turkey hunters I do know don’t blast turkeys at lengthy vary simply to punch tags. They benefit from the pursuit greater than something, and so they’re okay with letting a gobbler that’s out of snug vary stroll with a purpose to hunt him the subsequent day.
However it will be silly to disclaim the truth that we now have the gun and ammo expertise to kill turkeys cleanly and ethically past 40 yards. Primarily based on our testing, the appropriate 12 gauge with a correct choke and TSS load will kill a gobbler stone-dead at 60 yards. Nevertheless, making an correct shot at this distance is an actual problem. Certain, the sample of shot can be giant at 60 yards, however the core of the sample (which is able to kill the fowl shortly) is kind of small. In different phrases, should you take imperfect pictures at this distance, you’re sure to wound turkeys, and that is unacceptable.
It doesn’t matter what vary you propose to shoot, it’s essential to take the time to sample your shotgun and choke with the ammo you will hunt with. In case you are unable to place 100 pellets in a 10-inch circle over your goal persistently, then it’s essential to shorten your shot distance (and hold working towards).
Last Ideas
If I’ve discovered something from testing turkey hundreds and turkey weapons, it’s that the shooter is nearly all the time the weakest a part of the system. Hunters miss turkeys as a result of we get overly excited and make dangerous pictures. It often has nothing to do with our ammo, or choke, or gun.
With good capturing, nonetheless, the very best turkey hundreds in the marketplace actually do give hunters an edge. You’ll be able to’t merely purchase ammo with a turkey on the field and assume that you simply’re good to start out killing gobblers. So use our information on this assessment as a leaping off level, after which shoot these hundreds via your setup on the vary earlier than going searching.
